The healing power of the Mushaira

As my father recovers at home from his bout of pneumonia, it has been very difficult to get him to come out of his depression. He has been totally disinterested in television, the newspaper, conversation with visitors, phone calls – all things that he enjoyed until his recent illness. Physical recovery needs to be aided and a positive attitude can do wonders.

My brother and I were at our wits’ end trying to figure out how to get him to smile or take an interest in anything. I couldn’t even get him to eat – made all his favourite things but it was no use. Then I had an idea. Maybe if I got him some DVDs from Pakistan – Mushaira, comedy, etc from the homeland. Thanks to Sadia and Mustafa (at the P@SHA Secretariat) and a friend of my dad’s who hand-carried them from Karachi, the DVDs got here yesterday.

I haven’t tried the Moeen Akhtar stuff yet but the minute I put on the Mushaira DVD, my father’s face lit up and he was totally involved in the Mushaira for the next couple of hours. Obviously it had a healing effect because when his friends visited in the evening, he was a lot more communicative, he has been eating a little more, and was seen to be reading the paper this morning.